"It's like trying to recall the cane toad," she says. "You can't do it, so therefore you'd better make sure you do your due diligence well."

Animal feeding trials

Carman says CSIRO research into the GM pea was stopped after the discovery that it was "highly allergenic".

She says the organisation only discovered this by undertaking animal-feeding trials, something not normally required by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, the federal government body that oversees regulation of GM organisms in Australia.

"This is strong scientific evidence to show you do need human health testing," she says.